in that delightful
little cottage there."

"You don't mean to say you have asked _them_ to come to the ball!"

"To be sure I have. And I am sorry to say they can't accept the
invitation. Why should they not be asked?"

"Because nobody visits them."

"And why should nobody visit them?"

The Treasurer put his arm confidentially through mine, and walked me on
a few steps.

"In the first place," he said, "Doctor Dulcifer's name is not down in
the Medical List."

"Some mistake," I suggested, in my off-hand way. "Or some foreign
doctor's degree not recognized by the prejudiced people in England."

"In the second place," continued the Treasurer, "we have found out that
he is not visited at Barkingham. Consequently, it would be the height of
imprudence to visit him here."

"Pooh! pooh! All the nonsense of narrow-minded people, because he lives
a retired life, and is engaged in finding out chemical secrets which the
ignorant public don't know how to appreciate."

"The shutters are always up in the front top windows of his house at
Barkingham," said the Treasurer, lowering his voice mysteriously. "I
know it from a friend resident near him. The windows themselves are
barred. It is currently reported that the top of the house, inside, is
shut off by iron doors from the bottom. Workmen are employed there who
don't belong to the neighborhood, who don't drink at the public houses,
who only associate with each other. Unfamiliar smells and noises find
their way outside sometimes. Nobody in the house can be got to talk. The
doctor, as he calls himself, does not even make an attempt to get into
society, does not even try to see company for the sake of his poor
unfortunate daughter. What do you think of all that?"

"Think!" I repeated contemptuously; "I think the inhabitants of
Barkingham are the best finders of mares' nests in all England. The
doctor is making important chemical discoveries (the possible value of
which I can appreciate, being chemical myself), and he is not quite
fool enough to expose valuable secrets to the view of all the world. His
laboratory is at the top of the house, and he wisely shuts it off from
the bottom to prevent accidents. He is one of the best fellows I ever
met with, and his daughter is the loveliest girl in the world. What
do you all mean by making mysteries about nothing? He has given me an
invitation to go and see him. I suppose the next thing you will find out
is, that there is something